Adam Gilchrists's World Cup Final hundred

In an uninspiring tournament defined by incompetent administration and limp performances, at least the final was decided by something exceptional.

There are a number of fine players in this Australian side, but Adam Gilchrist is the one on whom everything is built. He's been keeping wicket and scoring bucketloads of runs for as long as we can remember, but has he ever played a better one-day innings than this?

In any circumstances 149 off 104 balls is something. In a World Cup final it's ten times as good. There's infinitely more pressure, but there's infinitely more impact as well. (Infinity multiplied by infinity equals ten, it seems. Our maths isn't all that good.)

It was a good pitch for batting, but Adam Gilchrist reduced both Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting to sleepy-looking bystanders. The middle of Gilchrist's bat must take more of a pounding than any other in world cricket, because that's invariably where the ball makes contact.

It's a fantastically simple method: Swing bat, middle it. Runs ensue.

And that's what he did. He won the World Cup for Australia with that method.